ECONOMIC  Systems

The Chinese system (type)

The Chinese System (Type)

The reforms implemented by Deng Xiaoping towards "market socialism," the structural changes made during Jiang Zemin's time, and the economic innovations carried out under the guidance of his successors in the leadership of China/the Chinese Communist Party have contributed to the dismantling of the pillars of "real socialism" in the great Asian country – see the extensive restructuring of the public sector, the transformation of the State into an ordinary market player, numerous privatizations, and the emergence of autonomous trade unions.

The "undeclared introduction of capitalism" (facilitating the communist-capitalist experiment, from another perspective) meant the implementation of free market mechanisms in one of the most repressive socialist societies.

The spectacular economic results recorded in a very short period (just a few decades), facilitated on one hand by the volume, quality, and low cost of labor, and on the other hand by huge government and foreign investments (attracted by the "habit" of capital to self-valorize in economies with "unlimited markets"), have captured the attention of the entire world: increases in almost all industries, remarkable developments in high-tech sectors, the capacity to export massively to all continents, the country's assertion as a "strategic investor" in the most diverse regions, etc., have provoked admiring comments, including from professionals in the field, many of whom have found themselves in the position of treating corruption in environments where "society has advanced faster than power," and mentalities have changed more rapidly at the "base" than in the "superstructure" (for younger generations, the construction of socialism and the cultural revolution have become chapters in history books), grave inequalities between urban and rural areas, remuneration for "conceptual activities" versus remuneration for "execution activities," the "Western" economic zone and the one dominated by bureaucratic elites close to the commands of the single party, etc., budget deficits ever-multiplying against the backdrop of abrupt decentralization (in the aforementioned "Western" economic zone), and even repeated violations of citizens' rights and freedoms.

Many analyses of the Chinese economy have highlighted how market laws have been internalized, the leap over significant stages of the "industrial revolution" directly into the "information revolution," the ability to encompass, through a "specific alchemy," various external contributions, from technical and economic to religious, into superior models. Conversely, they have referred to the "fragilities" in the economic system in question – the progressive reduction of trade surpluses, the increase in unemployment, the dependence of most exports on the volume of imports (an aspect reflected by the evolution of external debt), the limited benefits brought by expansionary budget policies, or the dangerous game of devaluing the yuan.

In addition to the aforementioned, it is noteworthy that the public discourse has distanced itself from the old ideological foundations and established a condescending ethic towards Daoism (rediscovering cultural identity, valuing traditions, etc.), perceived by ordinary people as a way of liberation from the totalitarian universe.

[Tiberiu Brăilean – op. cit., p.221 and following]

To Remember:

Daoism allowed for the development of political theories that led to the unification of the Chinese kingdoms (3rd century AD), resisted attempts by other religions to penetrate the Chinese space – Buddhism (Zen, after its encounter with Daoism), Judaism, Islam – embodied the continuity of Chinese culture (thanks to its adaptability), preserved a specific morality that encourages both freedom and individual responsibility, and constituted the basis of most systems of thought and the source of any innovation.